UK faces sharp rise in wind storms and higher bills as world warms
At a really stimulating RSN seminar on rural places today Lois Mansfield reiterated the challenges which climate change will pose to many rural settings and particularly the uplands. Having listened intently – as I do to most things she says! I got home from Chester and by fate found this article for Hinterland. It tells us:
The UK is set to reap the whirlwind of climate change with the huge damage caused by wind storms expected to increase sharply, according to new analysis.
Even the minimum global warming now expected – just 1.5C – is projected to raise the cost of windstorm destruction by more than a third in parts of the country. If climate change heats the world even further, broken roofs and damaged buildings are likely to increase by over 50% across a swathe of the nation.
The research shows all of the UK is on track to see rises in high winds except the south and south-west, with the greatest impact across the Midlands, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland. This is because the main storms that barrel in off the Atlantic are expected to move their track northwards as the planet warms, a phenomenon linked to the rapid melting being seen in the Arctic.